He is smart, funny, interested in all realms of science, mathematics and history. He loves a good story, movies, videogames. He loves to dive into the worlds of Pokemon and Harry Potter and can spend days in full Star Wars character without coming out even for a meal. He has mastered a 2 wheeler, rollerblades and a scooter and has dreams of owning a skateboard. His vocabulary is perfection and he never forgets the meaning of a word once he has heard it, flawlessly tucking it into daily use. He is engaged and engaging, intellectual and bright.
He also has little interest in reading.
He knows his letter sounds, his blends, everything. He knows his sight words.
He just doesn't want to read.
I've been pulling my hair out about this for two years and finally have realized it is time for me to stop. Stop seeing it as a personal failure, both of him and me. Stop succumbing to the fears in my head. Stop stressing both of us out by requiring mindnumbing slogs through phonics textbooks and boring "the cat sat on the mat" easy readers.
Its time to put down the Alphaphonics and back slowly away.
Its time to stop worrying about his 3 year old sister reading circles around him.
You know you are done when you start googling "Help for Late Readers."
But he's not a late reader. He can read. He just doesn't want to.
He has long had the comprehension for intricate story lines and has little patience for the simplistic easy readers that are available for his reading level. Yet the stories he longs to read discourage him by being too advanced. He wants me to read them. To him.
I don't think this would be a different situation if he were in school. Perhaps if he hadn't learned his phonics rules and sight words and seemed to have a problem with comprehension, but that hasn't been the case. His daddy was a "late" reader, after all, and went on to shine in his college English courses. I think it is just one of those things that is going to happen when it happens.
Until then, I'll be reading aloud Calvin and Hobbes, Treasure Island, Harry Potter and Swiss Family Robinson. I'll make myself hoarse on "Farmer Boy" and read every word in the encyclopedia ("but especially the parts about anatomy, because that's what interests me, mama").
I'll trust in the environment he is raised in, his natural intellect and his passion for life. It will happen when it is time.
